


Lovers (Live A Little Longer)

by orphan_account



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, dont come at me about the science of it all ok, i just want miss donna happy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-21
Updated: 2020-07-21
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:07:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,992
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25416643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Rose Tyler was standing next to one Doctor, while looking into the eyes of another, thinking she had all three of their hearts in her hands.
Relationships: Tenth Doctor/Donna Noble, The Doctor/Donna Noble
Comments: 2
Kudos: 66





	Lovers (Live A Little Longer)

Donna asked (and asked and asked and _asked_ ) for a beach day.

This was not what she had in mind.

She had signed up for tanning and relaxing on a beach towel and maybe even a swim if she felt so inclined.

What she got instead was a Time Lord in her head, giving her memories that didn't belong, knowledge that wasn't hers, that was slowly but surely swallowing her whole.

Then there was Rose Tyler too.

Rose Tyler was standing next to one Doctor, while looking into the eyes of another, thinking she had all three of their hearts in her hands.

Donna (is the third Doctor in this equation so she) knows that's not true.

Not anymore, anyway.

If she thought about it, maybe it was partially her fault. But it wasn't as if she had set out to seduce the Doctor, much less get him to fall in love with her of all people.

It had just happened, very much out of her control.

She has a feeling Rose might hate her all the same though.

Not that she could blame the girl, not really. The Doctor made it all seem so impossible, so much like a story. Like they were special, more than just two people who were in love.

What reason would Rose have to believe that the Doctor would fall out of love with her and fall in love with someone else when the Doctor himself made it so clear that she was special? That they were more than just star crossed. That they might just be universally bound.

Donna has more than a few years on Rose, and didn't quite idealise love the way that Rose did. She knew, even if the Doctor was magnificent and fantastic and like a hero plucked straight out of a sci-fi novel, that he was still (mostly) a man. No man, no person, no _alien,_ would be capable of a love so fanciful, so powerful. Donna had learned that lesson the moment she turned seventeen, when she realised those stories were just that. Stories.

If Rose had been given maybe just a couple more years on earth, around normal boys and normal relationships, she might've learnt it too. But as things were, everything she had believed to be true about love was still there in her mind. Donna was sure the Doctor hadn't helped in that aspect, not with the way he whisked her off to adventures too good to be true, feeding into every daydream and fantasy she had.

It was clear to Donna (even when she didn't have his consciousness in her brain) that the Doctor never really meant to make Rose believe all those things, make her belief in him and in _them_ so strong that it overtook everything else. Donna could understand though, the feeling of everything else seeming so boring and mundane compared to the Doctor and the TARDIS and all of time and space. She could understand Rose missing it, the danger and the adrenaline and the feeling of making a change and saving lives and seeking out that bright little spark in the Doctor's eyes.

Donna feels she's almost in the same place, now. Sometimes still caught in the Doctor's heavy gazes, finding herself excited at the prospect of another adventure, another challenge. She'd had no misconceptions about the romance though, or their relationship in general. She had fallen for the Doctor all the same, despite her self imposed rules about their strictly platonic relationship, but it hadn't made her any less aware of what it could be. A relationship. Not one out of a fairytale or a film. But a real relationship, one with ups and downs, fights and disagreements, but with trust, and respect, and sincerity.

For the longest time she had thought her feelings were one sided though, until mere moments ago when all his memories and thoughts and feelings had come corralling into her mind.

Finding out that he loved her, _actually_ loved her, the way she loved him, that had shocked her enough for her to struggle to remember how to breathe for a good minute.

If his head hadn't been infused with hers, Donna might've been wary about Rose. It felt as though the Doctor had Rose on a pedestal as much as she did him. Donna knew though, that underneath the reverence and awe he held for her, that there wasn't any love in there, not the romantic kind at least. She's pretty sure there had been, once, but now all traces of that was gone and instead was replaced by this all consuming fire in his hearts, for Donna of all people! She would've had a hard time believing it, if she didn't know it for certain that it was what he felt.

It paid a bit to have a Time Lord's consciousness in one's head, even if it did threaten to destroy you at the same time.

"The last time we were on this beach, what were you going to tell me?"

At Rose's sudden question, Donna is finally snapped out of her own (and some not her own) thoughts, her eyes refocusing on the scene in front of her.

The Doctor seemed very uncomfortable, a feeling that Donna could pick up on even without looking.

"It was nothing." The Doctor replied eventually, lips twisted into a frown.

Rose narrowed her eyes, catching his lie. "No it wasn't. You were going to say you love me, weren't you?"

This, the Doctor actually flinched at, unable to look her in the eye anymore.

"Rose, please."

Donna felt a twinge of pity for the Doctor, but knew he had to end it here and now, no chances, no misunderstandings, knew he had to finally pop that bubble that he had put around her. Knew too that in the end it would be better this way.

"What, Doctor? I'm right, aren't I? That's what you were going to say? That you love-"

"-Rose!" He cut in suddenly, a little louder than he might've wanted. "Yes, you're right, it _was_ what I was going to say. I meant it, then."

The _just_ _not anymore_ goes unsaid.

Rose heard it all the same.

She gasped, took a step back, then dropped her mouth open. Her eyes started to water, and she was shaking her head vehemently, as if she didn't believe it, as if she _couldn't_ believe it.

The Doctor felt a pain so real he staggered. The last thing he wanted was to hurt Rose, the last thing he wanted was to break her heart. But he couldn't lie to her, couldn't lie to himself. He simply didn't love her anymore, not in the way she wanted him to.

Rose had left a hole in his hearts, and then the universe gave him Donna and she mended it back together without him ever having noticed.

Rose's expression now, one of disbelief and betrayal and pain, it cut him more than anything else. Rose was- _is-_ still special, that would never change. There would always be a part of him that belonged to Rose Tyler, and Rose Tyler only. So it hurt, it hurt him to know that he was hurting her.

An awful bout of silence settled then, and Rose looked at him with eyes that begged him to take it back, to tell her that he was lying.

And maybe a year ago he would've handed her everything then and there, took one look at her broken expression and give her exactly what she wanted. Now? Now he was _different._ He was in love with Donna Noble and he refused to be sorry for it, to be guilty for it, to regret it.

He will treasure Rose, keep those moments and memories close to his heart. Just like he will do with Donna. An old love and a new, no one less important than the other, no one less true, less real.

"Rose Tyler, I loved you." The Doctor says instead.

They stay for a few minutes more after that, tying up some goodbyes and good lucks, the Doctor taking one last long look at Rose, knowing he would likely never see her again.

When they're back in the TARDIS, after he'd dropped everyone off at their individual stops, he's standing around the console with a silent Donna and a pensive duplicate of himself.

"Donna," The Doctor choked out eventually, hearts weary with the knowledge that he has to say goodbye to two women he's loved and loves so dearly in one day, " _Donna_ , I-"

Before he could even get out another word however, his duplicate had suddenly jumped forward, took hold of Donna's arms, and then kissed her. On the mouth.

The Doctor let out a rather indignant squawk at the sudden sight, but just as he moved to pry him from Donna's lips, his other self had passed out cold against the floor.

"What the hell was that!?" Donna screeched, taking a step back to observe the (other) Doctor's sudden state of unconsciousness.

"I have no idea, Donna. I suppose we'll have to wait for him to wake so he can explain himself." The Doctor huffed, a little upset that someone else had kissed Donna, even if said someone else was technically also him.

The (second) Doctor did wake up eventually, jumping onto his feet so suddenly Donna let out a shriek in surprise.

The moment she wasn't shocked anymore however, she had marched up to him and slapped the smile right off his face.

"Oi! What was that for?" He hissed, nursing his left cheek with his hands.

Donna narrowed her eyes. "That was for kissing me. You better have a good reason for it, or else I'm coming in with a punch next!"

The (new) Doctor's eyes widened at her threat, and smartly backed away just a fraction from her. "I just saved your life! And you're threatening me! Would it kill you to be a little grateful?"

At that revelation, the (original) Doctor stepped towards him, face stern and serious. "Saved her? How? Explain."

"It was simple, really. Well, incredibly difficult actually, but it all worked out in the end. I knew you were thinking about erasing her memories, something that would've probably just made everybody very miserable, but I realised it didn't have to be _her_ memory that had to go. So, I kissed her, and then as I was kissing her I was erasing my _own_ memories, while simultaneously also sucking out every part of you that was swimming around in her head into mine. Like a transfer, of sorts. Had to trick my brain into absorbing everything you from Donna by emptying it. Now her brain won't burn, and my mines is mostly none the wiser to the fact that there's _technically_ two copies of everything in there."

The (grown from a disembodied hand) Doctor had dusted himself off and coughed a bit, as if to say _well that's that!,_ then turned and walked away.

Donna and the Doctor were left standing there, staring in disbelief at each other.

"So you're-?"

"Fixed? I think. No more of your memories in my head. No more Doctor knowledge either, though, which is a bit of a shame."

The Doctor fished his screwdriver out of his pocket anyway, bleeped it at her despite her protests so that he could be absolutely sure.

When there was no sign at all that anything was wrong with Donna, he finally breathed a sight of relief.

Donna peered at him curiously for a moment, before saying the last thing he ever thought she'd say.

"Does this technically mean I've kissed you twice now?"

The Doctor choked a bit on a sudden intake of air. "I- what- _why-_ "

Then she said, "Want to add another?" and he thought _oh._

"Donna Noble, you are brilliant." He replied, grinning ear to ear, before giving her that third kiss.


End file.
